Whether we’re talking about drilling in deep water or in extremely dangerous or challenging environments like the Arctic, this is yet more proof that that the risks of frontier drilling just aren’t worth it.

Yet again, the oil industry has shown it can’t be trusted and it can’t mitigate the high risks to the local environment, global climate and the economy from drilling in the margins.

– Charlie Kronick, Greenpeace senior Arctic campaigner

The campaign group added that if drilling in the temperate conditions of the Gulf of Mexico could not be done safely, plans submitted for approval by Shell to operate in the Alaskan Arctic "would be disastrous".